


Jae's unhelpful guide to furniture shopping

by Anonymous



Series: I always want to kiss you [1]
Category: Day6 (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - No Band, Getting Together, Love Confessions, M/M, oh my god they were roommates
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-03
Updated: 2020-03-03
Packaged: 2021-02-23 05:06:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,910
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23006206
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/
Summary: Jae has an embarrassingly late epiphany.Brian is dealing with his feelings through extreme home decoration.
Relationships: Kang Younghyun | Young K/Park Jaehyung | Jae
Series: I always want to kiss you [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1658701
Comments: 22
Kudos: 132
Collections: Anonymous





	Jae's unhelpful guide to furniture shopping

**Author's Note:**

> long ago i promised myself i wouldn't write rpf anymore, but here we are. hence the anonymity. :'D  
> I'm new to these guys, so I'm still trying to pin down how to write them. Also, my grasp on Korean honorifics is shaky at best, so I opted not to use any in this fic.
> 
> (also, i'm sure sungjin's happy that i left him out of this nonsense.)
> 
> NOTICE! I'm sure I don't need to say this, but I'm gonna anyway: Do not send this fic to any of the people mentioned in it. That's rude. Also: this fic is not real life, even if it's about real people.

It’s 1 PM on a Saturday and Jae’s sitting on a too small, too hard couch in a mockup of a Scandinavian style living room, having an epiphany.

The epiphany is this:

He wants to hold Brian’s hand.

“We don’t need a new couch,” he says to Brian, who is sitting next to him. They are touching from knee to shoulder because that’s the only way both of them can comfortably fit on the couch. “And we definitely don’t need _this_ one.”

“I think it’s cozy,” Brian says, nudges Jae with his elbow and smiles in a way that makes clear he’s just joking. But this time, somehow, the smile hits Jae right in the chest. His heart, startled and confused, drums a beat sideways.

Brian feels very warm against Jae’s side.

They’ve only been in the store for fifteen minutes, but Jae already feels exhausted. Usually he lasts at least until the bathroom section. Sometimes he can even hold up until the lighting, but that’s his current record. It always eventually gets to him, the windowless, vast warehouse of _stuff_ . He doesn’t really understand the appeal of getting lost here. It feels like this place sucks hours of his life away without him even noticing. He finds it somehow... _lovecraftian,_ maybe? Jae doesn’t really know. All he knows is that it feels like he’s an unwilling participant in an eldritch ritual for some ancient Scandinavian god, that’s all.

It’s Brian’s doing that they’re there, of course. After Dowoon had moved out of their shared apartment, Brian had gone into a home decorating frenzy. They had hauled all their guitars and computers into Dowoon’s old room, making it into a home studio, which had freed a ton of space in the living room. Brian had spent most of the week moving furniture around their apartment, until this morning, when he had announced that they were going to Ikea.

“It’s too empty,” he had said. “We need a side table. Or... Or... _something_.”

Jae hadn’t minded the trip, not really. He had thought that this was just the way Brian dealt with not having Dowoon around anymore. Brian adored the guy, basically considered him a little brother. If Brian needed to buy a table and a few throw pillows to feel better, so be it. But, then again, Jae hadn’t had any idea that he was going to be having any kind of world-shaking epiphanies about his housemate/best friend while touring the showroom, so.

The store is filled with couples, is the thing. Couples with strollers with fat babies in them, couples buying things for their first apartment, older couples walking arm in arm. And here he is, at least three years without as much as a date with anyone. Jae watches another couple walk past them, hand in hand. It would be nice, he thinks idly, to hold Brian’s hand.

And, thus, the epiphany.

Maybe it’s just that they are alone now, in their apartment. Dowoon’s presence had been a buffer, a good kind of distraction, but now Jae can’t help but _notice_ everything more. And by everything, he really just means Brian.

He trails after Brian all the way to the kitchen and dining section and watches him poke at fake succulents and play with the soft-closing kitchen cabinets.

“We could maybe fit a dining table into the living room now?” Brian says, pulling up a chair and sitting down, leaning his elbows on the tabletop and his face on his hands.

Jae sits opposite of him and mirrors his pose. “Would we ever use it, though?”

“Probably not,” Brian says and smiles. His hands squish his cheeks up and Jae reflexively answers the smile while his heart feels like it’s trying to push through his ribcage.

He has a crush. A crush on his best friend. What kind of basic gay tragedy is this? It’s embarrassing, that’s what it is. He wonders how long this has been going on without him realizing it. Sure, okay, when they had first met, he had thought that Brian was hot. But he had also thought that it had gone away when they had become actual friends. It didn’t matter if Brian with a guitar in his lap always managed to make Jae sweat a little, that was just normal when it was Kang _freaking_ Younghyun they were talking about. That was just his overall effect on everyone, right?

_Right?_

Brian kicks at Jae’s feet under the table. “Come on,” he says. “Let’s get going.”

They wander through to the beds where Brian stops them again, flopping down on one of the big ones.

“Come on,” Jae says. “Just keep walking. You can’t fit that into our room, not with my bed still in there...” he trails off when another realization hits. “Shit, Bri. I could have moved into Dowoon’s room, what the hell.”

Brian rolls over to his back and blinks up at Jae, confused. “Wait. What? You didn’t realize you could have taken Dowoon’s room until just now?”

The thought had never even occurred to Jae before. “What the hell?” he repeats. He feels a little dizzy, so he lies down next to Brian. “I seriously didn’t even consider it,” he says, staring straight up at the too-bright store lights high above them.

They had shared a room ever since college, peacefully coexisting after their slightly rockier start. When, after graduating, they had gotten the two bedroom apartment together with Dowoon, they hadn’t even really discussed how to divide the rooms. It had been obvious that Jae would just continue rooming with Brian. No big deal. Status quo. As per usual until all eternity.

From the corner of his eye, Jae can see that Brian is smiling at him again. It looks a little like he’s being laughed at. Brian’s smile is very wide, all teeth. “I’m not going to haul all our shit back into the living room, though,” he says. “You’re stuck where you are. Sorry.”

Brian does not sound sorry. At all.

Jae turns his head and blinks at Brian, trying to look unimpressed. Then he slowly, _very_ _slowly_ , takes the pillow from under his head and smacks it straight across Brian’s stupid, smiling face. Brian’s indignant yelp makes him feel a little bit better.

Brian gets up from the bed and - when Jae extends a hand to him - pulls Jae up too.

And then.

Brian doesn’t let go. Just drags Jae along by the hand.

Jae can feel his face heating and wonders if he’s been this embarrassingly obvious all the time, and just hadn’t realized.

It’s completely possible.

He wonders what Brian could possibly be thinking right now. He tentatively squeezes Brian’s hand and Brian gives him a brief squeeze back, but doesn’t look at Jae at all.

“I’m happy, you know,” Brian says when they reach the children’s section and slow down to look at the brightly colored toys. He finally lets go of Jae’s hand to pick up a shark plushie, shoving it at Jae’s face. Jae’s whole vision is filled with felt teeth, so he can’t see Brian when he says: “I was kind of dreading for you to suggest having separate rooms.”

“Huh?” Jae says. When he’s finally able to yank the shark out of Brian’s grasp and away from his face, Brian’s already looking away again.

Jae thinks that the tips of Brian’s ears are tinged pink. Or maybe he’s just imagining it.

“Well,” he says, and has to clear his throat. “Apparently you shouldn’t have worried. I’m just that dumb.”

Brian laughs, but doesn’t turn around. Jae doesn’t know what to say next and just faithfully follows Brian towards the restaurant, shoving his hands deep into the front pocket of his hoodie, wondering what the hell is going on. He can still feel the ghost of Brian’s hand in his.

“Don’t get weird,” he mutters to himself and flexes his hand, trying to get rid of the sensation.

It doesn’t work.

By the time they have their plates of food in front of them, Jae’s starving. It’s somehow always a surprise how hungry he gets in this hell store. He’s not sure why. Maybe it’s the same thing that makes time disappear inside it, that is also tapping all his energy. He basically inhales his food, doesn’t pay attention to anything else for a while. Brian’s quiet too, eyes cast down at his plate, but that’s Brian every time he has food in front of him, so Jae doesn’t pay it any mind.

“It’s nice, actually,” Jae says when he’s finished eating. “That we don’t have to find a new roommate.”

Brian hums his reply and looks at Jae, finally, and smiles.

Jae grins cheekily back at him and thinks: _“Forget holding his hand, I want to kiss him on the mouth,”_ and says in a sing-song voice: “Thank you for working so hard and getting the promotion!” He even bows a little, to cover up for himself, to turn it into a joke so that Brian won’t look too closely at his face. He’s pretty sure he’s having a case of heart-eyes and it’s mortifying.

“Thank you for finally getting a job that pays real money,” Brian answers with the exact same tone of voice as Jae, making him laugh.

“Yes,” he nods and gets up. “We’re so successful we can even afford to shop at Ikea,” he deadpans. He collects both of their trays and goes to return them, letting Brian trail after him for a change.

When he turns to look at Brian, he’s smiling mindlessly at Jae, obviously lost in his head. Jae risks an arm around Brian’s shoulders and steers him towards the stairs and the ground floor. They’re halfway through the store and Jae just wishes he gets to leave it with his dignity still intact.

Well, okay, he’s not sure he had his dignity with him when they _entered_ the store, but a man needs some goals in his life.

*

Jae loses Brian in the kitchenware, because he _always_ loses everyone in there. One moment he’s staring at some plates and the next Brian is nowhere to be seen.

It’s okay, though, since he always manages to find people again at the lighting section, at the latest. Jae wanders through the store, not really looking at anything. They don’t need rugs or curtains or bedding, it’s boring and Brian’s not there to stop him every five seconds to look at more unnecessary things.

Jae doesn’t know what he should do about his newfound knowledge of Feelings _._ He wishes he could just leave them behind in the store, like all the crap he doesn’t need filling the shelves there, but that isn’t really an option, is it? He has to walk out of there, still with the knowledge that he might have fucked things up beyond repair this time. He knows his feelings are just going to eat at him until he snaps and confesses them to Brian’s face. After that, everything is going to be ruined. He needs to move out of the flat and find other roommates, people not nearly as good at living with him as Brian is.

He might not actually completely lose Brian for something as dumb as a crush, because Brian’s really not like that, but things will change.

Jae’s not sure he’ll know how to live like that.

So, yeah. What else is there to do, but to call Wonpil? He hides between the shelves full of cardboard storage boxes and glances around himself to check that no one, especially not Brian, is close enough to hear him.

"Dude, I fucked up," Jae says when Wonpil answers on the fifth ring.

He can hear Wonpil sigh. He sounds defeated, not alarmed, and Jae wants to reach through the phone and shake him a little. This is a crisis, after all. _A crisis_. "What did you do and on the scale of one to ten, how pissed off is Younghyun?" Wonpil asks.

Jae bristles at that. "Why do you think this has anything to do with him?" he squeaks.

"Because it usually does," Wonpil says. "Jae, every time you've called me and told me you've fucked up in the past... I don't know... _three years_ , it's always been because Younghyun is mad at you."

Lies. Wonpil tells barefaced _lies_.

He fucks up a lot _generally_ too, Jae’s sure, and he tells Wonpil just that.

Wonpil laughs at him. “Whatever gets you through the night, I guess,” he says and Jae would hang up on him, he _would_ , but the thing is. The thing _is_ that Wonpil is actually disturbingly good at giving advice, even if you didn’t think that was possible just from looking at him.

“No, this isn’t something like accidentally dyeing all his laundry pink, Pil, this is serious. And, and Brian doesn’t actually know I fucked up. Yet,” Jae says gloomily. He can already feel the doom, looming in the horizon.

“So, what is it then?” Wonpil asks, but it seems like he’s finally paying attention.

It feels like there’s a tiny thundercloud gathering in the pit of Jae’s stomach. He wonders if saying what he’s about to say is the best idea after all. Maybe not saying it out loud would be better. Maybe he’ll get struck by internal lightning.

What a way to go.

Wonpil is quiet, waiting for him to talk. “This is bad,” Jae says and then just goes for it, because what the hell, he might as well. “I’ve caught feelings. For Brian. And... And I don’t even know when this happened, because it doesn’t _feel_ like a new thing?”

Wonpil is silent for a moment before saying: “Oh,” and then actually _chuckling_ , the bastard.

“Wonpil, I swear to God, don’t laugh,” Jae warns.

“Sorry, I just... You figured this out now? Like, _right now_?”

“Yes,” Jae says and frowns at the shelf in front of him. “That’s why I’m calling,” he explains slowly.

Wonpil lets out a long, relieved breath. “ _Finally_.”

Jae gives up on the conversation. It hasn’t been going at all how he thought it would go.

“What the hell does _that_ mean?” he hisses. “Finally?”

“Yes, finally, because I’ve been waiting for one of you to grow some self-awareness for months now, maybe _years_ ,” Wonpil says. “Congratulations, you’re becoming an actual person! I’m so happy for you!”

And Wonpil actually sounds happy and not sarcastic at all when he says it. Jae knows better, though.

“You little shit,” Jae says, momentarily distracted from his anguish by how fond of his stupid friend he is.

“I really think you should tell him, though,” Wonpil says, bringing all of Jae’s anxiety rushing back. “I don’t think it’s going to end as badly as you seem to think it will.”

Jae takes back all he said about Wonpil giving good advice. “Yeah, right. What am I supposed to say? Hey, Brian, I really want to hold your hand and kiss you on the mouth and buy that stupid double bed for us? Yeah, that’ll go down well.”

“Aw,” Wonpil says. “That's so sweet. You should definitely say that. And also that you’re in love with him, maybe lead with that.”

“This is my own doing,” Jae says. “It was _me_ who called _you_. This is my own damn fault.”

“Yup,” Wonpil says, cheerful and unrepentant.

Jae hangs up on him. He makes a face at the phone, puts it back into his pocket, turns around and...

And bumps straight into Brian’s chest.

“Uh,” Jae says.

“Jae,” Brian says.

“How long have you been--” Jae starts, but Brian’s blushing and staring at Jae with a stunned look on his face, so it’s pretty obvious that he has been standing there long enough.

Jae's brain has filled with white noise. He has no idea how to even begin to handle the situation. He maybe panics a little.

And so he turns around and runs away.

Literally.

*

Jae catches up with himself at the lighting section and comes to an abrupt stop under the hanging lights display.

“This is so stupid,” he says out loud to no one and two women standing near him glance at him suspiciously.

The damage has been done. He can’t just run away and expect Brian to just forget about what he overheard. He also can’t keep avoiding Brian, since he’s Jae’s ride out of here. Oh, yeah, and also _they live together_.

This whole thing is already way too complicated for him.

“I suggest you ladies move along,” he says to the women. “This is about to get awkward and embarrassing and I want to spare you from possibly seeing me cry.”

The women scurry away, leaving him alone, and then Brian is already catching up with him.

“Jae!” he wheezes and comes to a stop in front of him, bending over and leaning his hands on his knees while trying to catch his breath. “What the hell?”

“Sorry,” Jae says and hunches into his hoodie, like that’s enough armor to protect him from whatever nicely worded rejection Brian has for him.

“If you’re apologizing about running away,” Brian says. “Then, yeah, you should be sorry. Idiot. Did you forget that I’m your ride out of here?”

Oh, man, Jae _really_ likes Brian.

It’s kind of freeing, admitting it.

The lights around and above them have erased all shadows from Brian’s face. Jae takes a moment to study him, mark down his familiar features and his stupid hair, and thinks: _“lovely,”_ and doesn’t stop himself this time, like he’s realized he’s been doing for a while now. Brian is out of breath and a little bit pink across his cheekbones and Jae wishes he had had time to prepare at least one coherent sentence before Brian found him again.

“If it’s about the other thing... then don’t,” Brian says.

Jae blinks at him.

“Don’t be sorry,” Brian elaborates and shrugs. It’s not a dismissive shrug. It’s one of Brian’s specific _“yes, Jae, I know you’re a complete mess but I’m prepared to deal with you anyway”_ shrugs.

They happen a lot.

Okay. So. Brian’s not angry with him. He doesn’t look disappointed either, now that Jae can get a good look at him. His eyes sparkle in the lights and he looks surprised, but... yeah.

And, contrary to recent evidence, Jae’s _not_ a coward.

“So, you might have overheard me telling Wonpil that I, uh,” Jae starts, but has to clear his throat in the middle, like the walking, breathing embarrassment he is. He’s never going to be smooth. It’s fine. “I realized that I have a huge crush on you.”

Brian still looks mostly surprised, but now he’s also smiling, so Jae continues.

“For the record, I totally meant to keep this a secret. I really didn’t mean to dump any of this on you. Sorry.”

“I said you shouldn’t be sorry about this,” Brian says.

“But it’s awkward, right?” Jae says and chuckles a little, trying to seem like he’s amused by all of this. He’s not, not really. It _is_ funny, kind of, in a really pathetic way, but Jae can’t laugh about it at all, it turns out.

Brian obviously doesn’t buy it. The smile slips off his face and he takes a step towards Jae.

“I’ve been in love with you since about two weeks after we met,” Brian says and looks Jae right in the eye.

Which is... Jae swears something short-circuits in his brain. “Okay, what? What is happening to me right now?” he asks. It’s a rhetorical question. He knows what’s happening. It just turns out he had been preparing for the wrong thing and now he’s stumbling, trying to catch up with Brian’s words.

“I’ve wanted to kiss you since about fifteen minutes after we met,” Brian says next. “It might have been most of the reason why we didn’t get along at first.”

Brian is looking at Jae, completely unashamed, and admitting to stuff that makes Jae’s face feel incredibly hot. He knows he’s beet red, but there’s absolutely nothing he can do about it, so he just keeps staring at Brian.

“Jae,” Brian says. He steps even closer to Jae, too close for Jae’s heart to keep its normal rhythm. He can feel Brian’s fingers curling around the edges of his hoodie’s front pocket, his touch light but definitely there, making Jae feel like he’s suddenly sprouted roots. He can’t step away to get some of his personal bubble back. He doesn’t even want to.

“Uh,” Jae tries, but Brian speaks over him.

“I want to kiss you,” Brian says. His grip on Jae’s hoodie tightens, just a fraction. “I always want to kiss you.”

The way Brian is looking at him is completely new. Jae has never seen this look on Brian’s face. His gaze is so intense it’s honestly a bit unnerving to have it directed at you. It makes Jae’s whole world narrow until it’s just the two of them. He’s forgotten everything else. He’s forgotten about the people around them. He’s forgotten where he is. Really, he’s lucky he still remembers his own name.

The shelves _might_ be hiding them pretty well from random observers, but Jae can’t look away from Brian to check. They might just as well be standing in the middle of the aisle, that’s how much Jae cares, actually. He lifts his hands and wraps his fingers around Brian’s wrists. “So, uh, go for it, I guess?” he says and immediately grimaces at himself, _who says_ \--

Brian leans in.

Jae’s brain pings a startled _yes!_ at him and it’s purely on instinct that he goes to meet Brian halfway.

Brian kisses him hesitantly and so softly that Jae almost can’t handle it. It’s so, so sweet, and almost completely closed-mouthed and, yeah, nope. Jae tilts his head sideways and opens his mouth, sucks at Brian’s lower lip a little.

“Hm,” Brian hums and his mouth twitches against Jae’s, and Jae _knows_ that Brian is going to smile any second now and ruin the kiss. He keeps kissing Brian as long as possible, until Brian is smiling so widely that he’d be mainly kissing Brian’s teeth if he continues. So he stops and presses their foreheads together instead, and opens his eyes so that he can see Brian’s smile.

“This is so stupid, Brian,” Jae says and laughs. “Why did we have to do this shit in here? Of all places?”

“You started it,” Brian says. “It’s your fault.”

“I know,” Jae says, and kisses Brian again, just because he can. When he pulls away, he catches Brian looking at him with the softest expression he’s ever seen someone direct at him. It’s enough to make him blush again. “Come on,” he says, trying to save whatever face he has left. “Let’s go find your stupid coffee table before we get kicked out.”

He reaches for Brian’s hand and they walk through the rest of the store like that, hand in hand. Jae’s earned it, okay.

*

They emerge into the sunlight, blinking. Jae is half-surprised it’s still _daylight_ and that they haven’t actually spent 500 years inside the store.

“Next time,” Brian says and Jae groans. He does _not_ want to come back any time soon. “Next time I’m going to buy that bed for us.”

Or, okay, maybe another trip wouldn’t kill him after all.

**Author's Note:**

> Who are Brian and Jae? I only know Brain and Jar.  
> Sincerely, the editing me.
> 
> Thank you for reading. I kiiiiind of have a sequel in the works?


End file.
